Saturday, August 5, 2017

I read Lost, the first book in this series some time ago and recently found the two sequels. If you want to feel the emotions of the characters you will love them.

LOST WITHOUT YOU:

This second book in the Lost Series is completely different
from the first, in which Brittany Powers and Cooper Owens are the sole
survivors of a plane crash in the Amazon.

While it is hard to put yourself in their shoes in the
Amazon, every emotion expressed in this, the second book, is something with
which readers can totally identify.

The author has done a wonderful job of showing the
detrimental effects of the plane crash on both characters, and their struggles
to get over their PTSD and mental problems, plus their onw personal tragedies.

The coldness of Brittany's family and the warmth and love of
Cooper's brothers and parents make for huge emotional conflicts, not to mention
the kindness and hospitality of Charlie, Brittany's only friend in the world.

The two lovers' desperate need to reunite keeps the reader
turning the pages.

LOST FOREVER

DM Thornton is an excellent author. She has a way of making
the characters come to life so you care about everything that happens to them,
especially if you have followed their story in the other two books.

This author is also gifted in her ability to make the reader
feel each and every emotion. You will have your heartstrings stretched taught
and then broken as you experience the soaring highs and desperate lows as
Brittany and Cooper wallow in the joy of being together again. There is no
doubt they are hopelessly in love with a love that will never die.

And then your heart will be ripped from your body.

I love this series and I am a huge fan,, but if you suffer
from depression or are easily saddened, you may find this book too deeply
emotional.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Scorpio's Sting -- Romantic Suspense -- is available on Amazon after many hours of editing and a long wait.

This is the fourth book in my Zodiac Series, in which each heroine was born under a different star or zodiac sign and exhibits the traits associated with her sign.

ICE Agent Neelie Nelson and Drew McBain have a habit of meeting in strange circumstances.

Targeted by la Serpiente de Coral Cartel and the most powerful and ruthless drug kingpin in Mexico, Drew reels from heartbreak after catastrophic heartbreak. The desire for revenge festers while he fights to rebuild his life and protect what is his.

Neelie has never been able to forgive her deceased husband for his unmitigated betrayal, and for his lack of forethought that has put her and everyone she cares for in mortal danger.

Anger, fear, and a mutual passion for revenge fan the flames of their smoldering desire and then a desperate situation forces them to act against the cartel. But how can they match its power?Buy now on Amazon

CHAPTER 1

Drew McBain’s eyes opened wide,
and before he could do anything to stop her, a smoking hot blonde filled his
arms. “Watch it,” he said.

She jerked her head up and yelped.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.”

“You should look where you’re
going.” He held onto her longer than he should have. She smelled good, and he
had just groped a delectable, firm breast. “I didn’t mean to . . .”

She ran her tongue over her lower
lip, and for a moment their eyes met and held. The sudden intake of breath
caught him by surprise.

“I’m sorry, again.” She held up
the cell phone she had been checking. “My bad. I’m late for work.”

He released his hold on her, and
watched her well-shaped ass until she disappeared into the darkness. Something
held him there—some subliminal message that had passed between them compelled
him to follow her. He stepped into the shadows. He shouldn’t have allowed her
to get away. He rounded the corner to see her climb into her vehicle and slam
the door.

“Wait!” he yelled and threw up a
hand.

She didn’t hear him.

He stared after her...

NEELIE'S STORY

This is the prequel to Scorpio's Sting. It is available FREE at the link below.

Neelie Nelson fears the worst. Her husband has been gone over a year on a dangerous assignment to infiltrate a powerful drug cartel in Mexico. Her hands shake uncontrollably when she unwraps the crystal ball. What will she do if she sees his death? Get your FREE download here.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Woohoo! I finally completed the second edit of Scorpio's Sting and will be able to send it to my editor, Caroline on Monday. I'm thrilled with the way it's turned out. It's changed a lot since I first submitted it, but I think with her help, we've tied up all the loose ends and filled the holes now.

Scorpio's Sting is about a Drew McBain's VMF System, which is designed to help shore up the US borders and stop the human and drug trafficking. The problem Drew comes up against is the fact that the Cartel that does business on the Arizona and California borders doesn't like the idea of their operations being curbed.

Neelie Nelson is an agent with ICE--Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and she has to handle human trafficking. She and Drew meet in unusual circumstances and find that they have a common goal.

Drew is forced to seek help from the very people he is going to prevent from crossing our borders--the illegal immigrants.

The story came into my mind one afternoon when my friend and co-worker in Young, Arizona received a panicked call from her brother. He had an illegal Mexican working for him, as many people do in Arizona and California. Let's call him Juan, and he had a big problem. He had paid the drug kingpin to bring his wife over the border. The men who escort illegals are called 'coyotes', and the coyote had crossed the border with her, but was now demanding another $3,000.00 or he would abandon her in an undisclosed location in the desert with no water or food. My friend's brother had to help him find $3,000.00 in a hurry. They were only given 24 hours. As far as I am aware, they were able to scrape up the money and the story had a happy ending, but ever since that day my heart has gone out to those whose story doesn't end in joy, and that's what his book is about.

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:

CHAPTER 1

Drew McBain's eyes opened wide, and before
he could do anything to stop her, a smoking hot blonde filled his arms. "Watch
it!" he said.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry," she
yelped.

"You should look where you're
going." She smelled good, and he had just groped a delectable, firm
breast. "I didn't mean to . . . "

She ran her tongue over her lower lip,
and for a moment their eyes met. "I'm sorry, again." She held up the
cell phone she had been checking. "My bad. I'm late for work."

He released his hold on her, and
watched her ass until she disappeared into the darkness. He blew out air, and
headed into the Sand
Swamp bar, where he had arranged to meet his friend, Dan Lemar after work, for
a beer.

"You missed Neelie," Dan
said. "I told you not to be late."

Drew slid onto a stool and the
bartender pushed an icy mug of beer over the glossy counter to him. He took a
long swallow, and stared at the doorway. "She left already?"

"Yup. Special Agent Cornelia
Nelson. She's as hot as a summer revival. If I wasn't married . . ." Dan
ran a hand through his short hair. "You might have even passed her on your
way in."

"I wasn't really looking at
anyone except the blonde who ran into me. What are the odds that would be her?
What's she doing in San Diego anyhow? Doesn't she live in Arizona?" She
didn't act like she was in law enforcement, but it's possible that was her.

"Yeah. She's working undercover
here in San Diego on some secret assignment. We often have to work together as
you know, and I invited her for a drink.
As it turned out, she couldn't drink any alcohol because she had to go
do whatever it is she does. I was hoping you'd be on time so I could introduce
her to you. She had to leave in a hurry."

"Blond, about so high?"
Drew held his hand palm down. "Green eyes?"

Dan nodded. "Yup. That was
Neelie."

"How long's she gonna be in
town?"

Dan grinned. "Let me guess. You
want me to arrange another meeting."

If she's the blonde, sure. "Can you?" He could still
picture every detail of the unexpected incident. The way she looked, the way
she smelled, and the delectable hormone-jerking feel of her breast in his hand.
He could use more time with her.

"I'll see what I can do. It'll
depend on her work schedule. How are things going with that contraption you’re
manufacturing? With all these kids being sent alone from Mexico across our
borders we need it like yesterday. And if it can put a dent in the drug trade
that's an added bonus.”

Drew nodded. "The federal government is
taking the VMF System seriously at last. I'm meeting with a Specialist from the
Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection Office of
Procurement in a couple of weeks."

"I’ll never understand how the
thing works." Dan took a long drink of his beer.

"It's not easy to explain the
VMF System because there are multiple elements to it. You have to understand
quantum physics, and geophysics, not to mention UAV or drone technology."
Drew signaled for more drinks and waited while the bartender poured two draft
beers from the taps and slid them over the counter.

"I mean, a virtual mine field.
What is that? It sounds like sci-fi to me, or a case of bullshit baffles
brains."

Drew took a sip, wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand and smiled at Dan's description. "The Virtual Mine Field
is real. Anyone who steps within range of the sensors will get kicked back the
way he came."

"But he won't get hurt? In other
words, it's not gonna deliver anything close to a fatal jolt of electricity."

"No. That's the big selling
point. Nobody wants to electrify the fences on the borders because they don’t
want a whole bunch of dead people to deal with, like what happens in other
parts of the world. And now with the rash of kids . . .This'll knock them over,
but no normal, healthy person will get hurt."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming soon. . . . Still waiting for the final cover from the wonderful artists at Soul Mate Publishing, The one on this page is a temp one I made myself.

Friday, August 5, 2016

I'm happy to feature this suspense thriller this week. It looks like a book I'm going to have to read.

At Granite’s Mill, deep in the backwoods of Virginia, a body is discovered with unusual physical characteristics. By morning, the media erupts over a headline in a local newspaper, ‘The Son of Virginia’s Governor is Missing’.

FBI Special Agent Jack Stanwick is handed the case. Realizing he’ll have to go outside the brethren, Jack marshals the help of an old friend, Raymond Davenport, who hung a sign on a renovated brownstone in Washington, DC, with the verbiage: Davenport Detective Agency. To assist him, he hired three former police officers from various precincts, who like himself, blew the whistle on dirty cops only to deal with the fervent hostility from the brotherhood. With the investigation under way, the detectives stumble upon a group of men known as M.A.G.O.C., who’re muddled in a governmental conspiracy involving a top-ranking official at the White House. With their many resources, they dig further and unearth Prescott Chemicals. Years earlier, the owner and his lead chemist had stolen an elixir from the Mayapo natives of the Amazon rainforest and have transformed it into a formula to be used in a congressional scheme.When the detectives accidently come into contact with the new formulation, something undesirable happens to one of them, altering his life forever.Here's where to buy it: Alter Ego

Tory Allyn currently resides in Upstate New York. Although born in Syracuse, he was raised in the quaint town of Baldwinsville with his brother and two sisters, who drove him into becoming the zany person he is today. As a child, he made up many a tale. Some funny; others dark and brooding, but all started him on the path to writing. Today, his nephew, lovingly referred to as ‘The Monster Child’, is his partner in crime. Most days you will see them playing ball at a nearby park, going for a dip in the backyard pool or snowboarding down a popular mountainside.

Monday, May 16, 2016

I'm taking advantage of KDP Select's five day free option and offering a FREE download of my psychological thriller SHEER PANIC from May
15th through May 19th only.

This is a novella and is only 112 pages. Please
feel free to hop over to Amazon and you'll see it is priced at $0.00. (You'll
need an Amazon account, which is free.) Click on 'Buy Now' and if you don't
have a Kindle, Amazon will lead you through it. They have apps that will allow
you to read Kindle files on your PC or tablet or phone.It's kind of a mix between dark and sweet, which is what I like to do. Just when things seem to be all bad, something uplifting takes place. And of course, I like to feature animals.

What would you do if someone came into your house and moved your stuff while you were sleeping? Breanna Benton's denial morphs into terror when she finally has to accept the truth, but which one of the three men who harass her is the stalker?

The maintenance man at college makes her edgy and uneasy when he accosts her with inappropriate comments; Dorky Dorian seems to be following her everywhere she goes, and it troubles her to think he may have tampered with her car; hunky Joaquim at the stables where she keeps her horse takes his flirting to a new level, awakening terrifying and exciting emotions all the way to her core, but did he copy her house keys?

And then Lance, the boy she had a crush on at high school friends her on Facebook. He never noticed her before. She's ecstatic, but a little scared.

She draws comfort from the only stabilizing factors in her life—her niece, Shari, and the elderly neighbor Mrs. Stanley and her dog, Panda.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Back in the day identifying a fiction book genre was simple. The choices were limited to romance, suspense, mystery, comedy, historical, western, etc. Most were identified with one word. Now, it is almost impossible to classify a book's genre using only one word, as so many sub-categories have been created, originally to facilitate search engine keywords.

A lot of people don't seem to know the difference between a suspense thriller and a mystery, so here it is:

In suspense, the reader knows what the bad guy (antagonist) is up to before the protagonist knows. The reader's inside knowledge that someone is lying in ambush waiting for the unsuspecting character creates suspense. The actual ambush makes it a thriller.

In a mystery, the reader only knows what the primary characters know. If they're hunting for a clue, you don't know where they may find it, and if someone is going to ambush them, you won't know until it happens.

Woohoo my newest story is finally ready to be published! I entered it into Kindle Scout and if I get enough votes, Amazon will publish it. So please would you guys click on the link below.

You'll be able to read the first few chapters, and then vote if you think it deserves your support. This story is more of a suspense thriller with romantic elements than pure romantic suspense. Here's the low down:

Is revenge really sweet--or totally crazy?

Scorpios are passionate lovers. Drawn together by strange circumstances, Drew McBain and Neelie Nelson's hypnotic personalities and magnetic intensity make for an intense and profound relationship. They find themselves with a common goal when the la Vibora de Coral Cartel causes unforgivable harm to their loved ones. Ferocious anger and a brooding and passionate desire for revenge draws them together, but how can one man and one woman take down the most powerful and malicious cartel in Mexico?

I will owe you if you vote, so if you are an author I'll be happy to promote your work in social media in return. Just let me know how I can reciprocate.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Valentines Day is here once more. A time for romance, chocolates, wine and roses. And how about a good romance novel?

In Virgo's Vice, Lexie King and cowboy Billy Murphy find themselves among the players in a Survivor type of reality show.

Talk of a monster makes Lexie glad she has the protection of chocolate lab, Jake, who parachuted into the remote part of Zimbabwe, Africa with all of the contestants and the two camera operators. Billy romances her with sunsets and stargazing, and then everything goes to hell . . .

But today is for romance, and these pictures tell a little bit of the story. You can read more at my website at www.trishjackson.com where you will also find free downloads of a few fun short stories.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

All authors know reviews are important because they help readers to decide whether to buy your books or not, and we are always thankful to people who take the time to write a review, or even a one line comment.

Unfortunately, some readers take great delight in dissing books, and earn themselves the title of 'troll'. If you don't like a book, it's okay to say so and to explain why, but there is no need to be hateful and nasty like the review for Virgo's Vice from a woman named Libby. If you go to her profile and check out her stats, you can see she is a committed troll. She's rated 1019 books and her average rating is 2.92 stars. It appears she was expecting a sweet little innocent romance. She probably doesn't understand that romantic suspense or suspense thrillers with romantic elements can be dark and intense.

Thankfully, most readers who leave reviews are good people who want to express their honest opinions in a decent and respectful manner. I personally don't publish reviews if I believe a book is worth less than three stars. I usually contact the author and explain why I feel the way I do and leave it at that.

Here are three great reviews Virgo's Vice received this past week:

From Ron (4 Stars)

Virgo's Vice asks, "What if Survivor were about actually surviving?" When a disparate group of contestants, with two camera operators, are parachuted into Africa with few supplies, they are confronted with just that question. Each has a reason to win the contest with a cool million as a prize and each has a reason to make sure no one else does. But how far will they go to win? Literally landing on her butt in the brush, Lexie King is right in the middle of it. When she took on the assignment to film the event, she had no idea what she was getting into. She is haunted by demons from her past and soon finds the present ones can be just as bad. She is confronted with the the possibility that one of the contestants feels that a million dollars worth killing for. Or are other evil forces at work?

Trish Jackson shows her familiarity with the African wilds in this book and uses it as a backdrop for her book. The characters are a varied lot, some good people and some not so good, but all are interesting. You find yourself rooting for some and not caring what happens to a few. It's a lot like life. In the end, I'm reminded of a phrase from the old TV series, Maude, "God will get you for that." I must admit that Jake was my favorite character, willing to give his life for Lexie, but I'm a dog person. Still, loyalty and self sacrifice are great qualities in any species. While part of the book is first person, in Lexie's point of view, Trish also uses third person to let you know what other characters are thinking and seeing. It's a fun read and keeps up a good pace throughout the book.

From Ken (4 Stars)

Trish Jackson’s fast-paced crime and romance novel “Virgo’s Vice” takes us into the wilderness of Africa. The contestants and two camera people have just been parachuted into the wilds where they are going to take part in a television reality show. Stranded by the failure of the show’s producer to get funding, the characters have to survive a menu of murder, love, and disaster. Using a combination of first and third person narration, Jackson creates the sense that we are watching a television show that has gone out of control. This is a page-turner with strong action and excellent romance.

From Todd (5 stars)

Reality TV...nope, not for me. But a book about a reality TV show in Africa that had a lot of things go wrong... I loved it! There was romance, there was suspense, and most importantly there was a great story behind it all, unlike reality TV. Lexie King the main character in the book is well thought out and described. Her past is the main story in this book to me and Trish does everything right in making this affect her life as a contestant for the $1,000,000.00 prize.

Thank you SO much. I really appreciate you.

Here's a link to more info and the Amazon page where you can buy this book.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Lost by D.M. Thornton is a masterpiece, and a truly great debut novel.

In the beginning, 'Lost' resembles the TV show with the same
name—a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere and most of the occupants lose
their lives.

The survivors are lost, yes, and yet the word 'lost' holds a double
entendre as readers will discover at the end.

It is essentially a love story, and the author's depiction
of the progression of the process of the two primary characters falling in love
and eventually realizing they can't live without each other can only be
described as masterful. The love-making scenes are graphic yet tastefully
written, leaving the reader in no doubt that the couple love one another
deeply.

If you love romance and enjoy a fast-paced book that moves
forward with each page-turn, you will enjoy this story.

One word of warning -- the cliff-hanger at the
end. While it clearly shows that a sequel is in the works, and will leave you hungering
for more, you may feel disappointed if you are accustomed to reading romance, in which there is always a happily ever after or happy for now ending.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog for so long. My excuse is that I went to South Africa to celebrate my amazing mother-in-law's 96th birthday, and then when I got home the 'silly season' was in full swing.

That's all in the past now and 2016 looms on the horizon. I'm hoping it'll be a great year for writers in general. My wish is that you all have something good to celebrate next year.

2015 was a good year for me as a writer. I had two books published and a short story. As always, they include delightful animal characters and romance, plus a message to educate people about the evils of our world.

Sheer Panic is a novella I published myself. It's my first attempt at a psychological thriller. Breanna Barton has no love life until the guy she had a crush on at high school shows up unexpectedly on Facebook and wants to get together. After several strange and terrifying incidents, she comes to the realization that someone is stalking her. But it can't be him. He lives in another state. Her eight-year-old niece, and Panda, the little black and white mutt who belongs to her elderly neighbor rescue Breanna in more ways than one.Sheer Panic on Amazon

Virgo's Vice, the third in my Zodiac Series, was released by Soul Mate Publishing late in the year.

Camera operator Lexie King has a good reason to work out of her comfort zone in Allan Dockery's new survival-style reality show in Africa. She is determined to overcome her PTSD and make something of herself, but she has no way of knowing he would be there. The monster who molested her repeatedly as a child.Jake, the producer's chocolate lab, and sexy cowboy contestant Billy Murphy are her only hope, but can they do enough to save her? Virgo's Vice on Amazon

Lexie's Story is the prologue to Virgo's Vice. I self-published this on Smashwords and it can be downloaded totally free in any format.

Lexie KIng's childhood sucked. When she wasn't lying in in her bed at night waiting for 'the monster', she was hiding from the bullies at school. It was like she had a sign on her forehead that said "Abuse Me." Lexie's parents died in a car crash when she was too young to remember, and Aunt Jess refuses to believe that her live-in lover, Phillip could be molesting Lexie. An ugly mutt named Candy -- a cross between a boxer and a standard poodle -- is Lexie's only friend in the world.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

It's all about being stuck... I'm stuck because I don't have enough time to write all the books stuck in my head just trying to come out. And if I could be stuck somewhere with someone who would it be??? That would depend upon where I was stuck.

Please Release Me

What if you could only watch as your bright
future slipped away from you?

Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most
but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And,
when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect
wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.

That is until the car crash that puts her
in a coma and throws her entire future into question.

In the following months, a small part of
Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world
around her – although she has no way to communicate.

But Sally was never going to let a little
thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

When I found out that James Patterson, the most prolific and successful author of our time, was holding a writing class, I was all in.

The outline is the most creative part of writing your novel, and sometimes, James says, he writes several different outlines for the same story before he decides how it will all work out. He can be working on an outline for months before he is happy with it.

Before you start the outline, you need the raw idea. This is a one-paragraph summary of your story, and if your story is to succeed, the idea has to be something more than a little disparate, create tension and conflict, and should grab readers' attention from the start.

Here's the idea for my upcoming novel, 'Virgo's Variant':

Cinematographer Lexie King is determined to break free from the drugs, and psychoses that haunt her as a result of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. She signs up as one of the camera operators for a new reality show set in Africa, knowing that it will be totally out of her comfort zone. It is too late for her to quit the assignment when she discovers that one of the contestants is the man who abused her, The producer has dropped her and the other camera operator, with the twelve contestants, in a remote region somewhere in Africa with no means of communication. The producer dies, and the only person who knows where they are is the pilot who dropped them there, who is away on his honeymoon. Rumor has it that all the local inhabitants have abandoned their villages because a monster roams the region. Then the murders start, and the only person Lexie trusts is the cowboy, but could she be wrong? He is certainly physically strong enough to be the murderer.

So my next task is to write an outline. This is a summary of each chapter, with one or two paragraphs per chapter. Every chapter is a new scene, and should contain something that propels the story forward and adds a new twist.

Once the outline is all written up -- and typing it out in Word works for me -- you can go back over the scenes and experiment. Add new twists, reorganize the order of events, make notes for future reference, add something to create more suspense, and make a note of how the events affect the personal lives of each character.

Here you will edit, edit and edit again before you go any further.

The one thing I did notice about the outline is that, without dialogue or the internal conflict and thoughts of the characters, it's pretty blah, but that all comes later, and James goes over the do's and don'ts of dialogue and creating conflict in some detail.

Only when you are completely happy with your outline should you start the novel, which will flow easily now that you know how the story progresses. I used to be a pantser, but now I know better.My greatest problem with this particular novel was that I had already written it before the classes with James, and it was with my publisher, Soul Mate Publishing. I received the first edit from them soon after completing the course. I found that with the outline, I was able to do a lot of editing that I probably wouldn't have done before. I cut out a lot of unnecessary explanations and changed some of the events. (Show don't tell). I also ended up with double the number of chapters I originally started with, because short one-scene chapters make the story move at a faster pace, and if your story drags, your readers will lose interest.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Capricorn Cravings was published in print format 10 months after it first hit the Kindle market, and with two new books being released over the holiday season I am only just now scheduling a giveaway.

Riley Shaughnessy has the perfect life. Her veterinary practice is thriving, and she loves living in the small town in the Colorado mountains, where no one knows the shocking secret of her past. She loves to gallop her palomino mare across the vast expanse of public land bordering the town, and after a long period of self-denial, she has even committed to a date with handsome horse wrangler, Randy Hansen. But now, she knows her assistant, Jamie, would never willingly abandon her child, so why has she disappeared? Something dark and sinister is taking place, and it all started on the day hunky Powell Stewart, with the piercing blue eyes, came into her life in a strange and unexpected way. Her inner voice tells her to stay as far away from him as she can...
Here are the details of the Giveaway:

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Anyone who thinks God doesn't have a macabre sense of humor answer this—why did he bring Andre Rossouw into Arlette's life on the same day her doctor told her she was about to die?

Attractive FBI Psychic Arlette Xylander displays all the character traits of her star sign, Aquarius, being feisty, eccentric, freedom-loving, flirtatious, rebellious and unpredictable. She may be only five feet tall, but she epitomizes the old adage that dynamite comes in small packages.

Her emotions rage between denial, anger and tears when her doctor tells her she is suffering from a rare terminal disease. When hunky Andre Rossouw asks her to help find his sister who has been missing for four years, Arlette makes two decisions. To beat the disease and find a cure, and to have wild and passionate sex with him.

Then she finds out he has a fiancée.

Arlette's country home on the banks of Bayou LeGue was left to her by her mysterious aunt Lucie, whom she never met, and whom her dysfunctional parents have never been willing to discuss. She often wakes in the dark hours of the night to hear ghostly voices downstairs, and wishes she could find out who they are and what they want.

A mysterious letter arrives from her aunt, hinting at a secret in the house, and her friend, Reay, agrees to research her home's recorded archives, while Arlette plans to dig into her family history. She starts by visiting her aunt's grave, where she finds a mysterious woman wearing a hooded cloak, who leaves in a hurry. Arlette's instincts tell her the woman holds the answers to all her questions, but how can she find her?Click here to buy it now

Friday, January 23, 2015

Kristin, wife and mother of three, tries to be understanding
when her husband, Michael decides to travel to Rio de Janeiro on his own. He hasn't
been himself since his accident.

The problems start when he disappears. Kristi and her
teenage son, Josh, travel to Rio to try to find him, and against all advice,
they head into the crime-ridden slums or favelos. After some very harrowing experiences, Kristi
finds solace and a broad shoulder to lean on in Brazilian Federal Agent, Tony
Lamazzo. But is he really to be trusted, or is he on the payroll of the cruel
and malicious drug lord O Dentista?

The author has done a wonderful job of describing life and
death in Rio's underworld, and she ratchets up the tension to a terrifying
climax. It was hard to put the book down.

Being an animal advocate, I was happy when the homeless kid's dog found a happy ending.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I'm very pleased to say romance thriller Capricorn Cravings is now in print. It was released by Soul Mate Publishing in February for Kindle, and now it is also in print.

Riley Shaughnessy has the perfect life. Her veterinary practice is thriving, and she loves living in the small town in the Colorado mountains, where no one knows the shocking secret of her past. She loves to gallop her palomino mare across the vast expanse of public land bordering the town, and after a long period of self-denial, she has even committed to a date with handsome horse wrangler, Randy Hansen.But now, she knows her assistant, Jamie, would never willingly abandon her child, so why has she disappeared? Something dark and sinister is taking place, and it all started on the day hunky Powell Stewart, with the piercing blue eyes, came into her life in a strange and unexpected way. Her inner voice tells her to stay as far away from him as she can, but his magnetism drags her toward him and she cannot find the power to resist. Click Here for Details

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Amazon's new Kindle Scout Program has effectively taken the power away from the publishers and placed it squarely in the hands of the readers.

Here's a summary of how it works:

Authors are invited to submit a full length fiction manuscript plus book cover and blurbs. Amazon's reviewers read the manuscript and if it meets their standards, they create a 'campaign' for the book. This is made up of the cover, a one-line description and a longer blurb about the story, plus the first 5,000 words.

Anyone with an Amazon account can login, read what has been posted, and nominate the book, assuming they like it.

Each reader can nominate only three books. If they have already nominated three and then find one they like better, they can drop one of their previously nominated books and nominate the new one instead.

At the end of the 30-day campaign, the book with the highest number of nominations wins a publishing contract with Amazon for it's author, with a $1,500 royalty advance.

Readers who nominated a winning book get a free copy and are asked to provide a review.

Campaigns are ongoing and any author can submit their book (but only one book per author) any day of the year.

This program is brilliant because it puts the readers (who are the customers) in charge. They collectively and democratically choose the best stories, and help weed out the mediocre, the bad and the unfinished stories. The author has no way of knowing who has voted or canceled their vote, and readers cannot collaborate online.

It also takes the power away from the publishers. Twenty years ago, publishing houses and their editors were like Gods. Writers submitted their work and were told to expect rejection. A handful of professional 'readers' had the power to accept or reject every manuscript they reviewed.

Then came POD or Print On Demand, and the selection process became a lot less stringent.

When self-publishing became a reality, it brought out a lot of talented authors who would never have been published in the past, but it also brought a horde of books that should never have seen the light of day.

My hope is that Kindle Scout will even the playing field for authors and readers.

Here is my campaign:

VIRGO'S VARIANT is a romance thriller or suspense thriller with romantic elements.The first 5,000 words are on the site at Kindle Scout for people to read. (No Kindle is required). If you like what you see, you can nominate the book.